Making space for the unexpected
Nine months ago, we left behind a life we loved, packed a few small backpacks and headed into the world without knowing exactly where the road would take us.
As our road less travelled is coming to an end, I look back on amazing travel experiences, unexpected twists and turns, redirections and lessons learned, and I feel incredibly happy that we once again had the courage to leave a great life behind and go.
Most of all, it has made me appreciate once again what an absolutely fantastic teacher the world is.
No school, university course or personal development program can quite compete with being out there in the world, especially when you are curious, willing to go deep into other cultures and not too precious about your own ways of doing things.
When we left Sydney, we deliberately didn't have a strict schedule or plan. We had a direction: Sydney towards Europe, eventually finding a place where we wanted to build our next chapter. And we had our first step organised: Japan for Arjen, Jordi and me, and Vietnam for Dylan.
Other than that, we would work it out as we went along.
I certainly never expected to find myself sitting in bomb shelters in Tel Aviv during the Iran war. I never expected to spend most of the European summer in Amsterdam, 25 years after leaving the Netherlands, and for it to become one of the absolute highlights of our journey. And I loved returning to Guatemala, where Arjen and I travelled as a young couple all those years ago, this time as a family. Yes, we actually managed that part together!
It has been wonderful, confronting, enriching, occasionally uncomfortable and very different from anything we could have planned. That's why it has taught me so much.
You really don't need that much
Before leaving Sydney, we let go of almost everything we owned. After 23 years of building a life in Australia, the four of us ended up with 13 storage boxes and set off with small backpacks.
There was something incredibly freeing about it.
When you travel with very little, you quickly realise how much we accumulate over time. Not because we consciously decide we need all of it, but because little by little, things simply get added.
I've been thinking about how easily the same thing happens in business.
As businesses grow, we add more systems, processes, meetings, people, management layers and ways of doing things. Some of that is necessary and helps us grow, but complexity has a habit of creeping in almost unnoticed.
And too much complexity kills creativity. It slows us down, takes energy away from the things that really matter and can bury the original purpose underneath layers that were added with the best intentions.
Growth is wonderful, but growth doesn't always have to mean more. There is enormous power in simplicity. In creating space to think, respond, create and focus our energy on what actually makes a difference.
Sometimes moving forward isn't about adding the next thing. It's about simplifying what is already there.
Some of the best things happen because things don't go to plan
This journey has been full of detours. Some were small. Others completely changed where we went, how long we stayed or what happened next. And I've come to appreciate the detours.
A roadblock forces you to stop looking straight ahead. You have to look left and right, ask different questions, find another way and consider possibilities you might otherwise have walked straight past.
It makes you creative, resourceful and, if you allow it, much more open to opportunities you hadn't considered before.
I think this is such an important skill in business too.
Of course we need strategy. We need direction and a sense of where we're going. But there is a big difference between having direction and being rigid about the route.
Markets change. Technology changes. People change. Circumstances change. We change.
Sometimes the smartest thing we can do is stop trying to force the original plan and become curious about what the change in circumstances might make possible.
Some of the richest experiences of these past nine months happened because something didn't go according to plan. The roadblock wasn't the end of the road. It simply showed us another one.
In the end, it really is all about the people
The places have been incredible, but the people have made the journey.
From watching the Northern Lights with my beautiful Finnish host family, Siv and Roger, to being welcomed and cared for by family and locals during an extraordinary time in Tel Aviv, and reconnecting with dear friends and former colleagues in the Netherlands after more than 25 years.
And then seeing our boys create their own connections along the way.
They met their American friend Zac while we were in Antigua and later travelled to Colorado to stay with him, experiencing everyday American life through the eyes of a local rather than as tourists.
Those are the experiences you remember.
But genuine human connection doesn't happen simply because you travel somewhere. It starts with being genuinely interested in people.
Wanting to understand how they live. Listening to their stories. Trying their food. Learning some of their language. Being open to different habits, ideas and ways of looking at the world without constantly comparing them to your own.
Seeing a place through the eyes of the people who live there makes your world bigger. I've always believed the same about business.
Companies are ultimately groups of people trying to do something worthwhile together. Leadership, marketing and sales all come back to relationships, trust, understanding people and finding ways to genuinely add value to their lives.
And in a world of increasing technology, automation and AI, I believe our ability to genuinely connect with another human being is only becoming more valuable.
The world really is the best classroom
No course or program can teach you quite what the world can when you are willing to let it. Travelling confronts you with what you don't know.
You arrive somewhere and suddenly your normal way isn't the normal way. You don't understand the language or the rules. You make mistakes. You have to ask for help. You meet people who see life, work, family, success and happiness through completely different eyes. And if you're curious enough to really listen, it changes you.
I think curiosity is also one of the most valuable qualities we can bring into business.
There is enormous value in experience, knowledge and legacy, but there is also danger in allowing experience to convince us that we already know.
Look outside your industry. Talk to people who think completely differently from you. Listen to someone with a completely different background. Ask why something has always been done that way. Stay interested in new technology and new ideas, but also in old wisdom from cultures very different from your own.
We don't always need to agree. But we can always learn.
Staying curious and open to new ideas is perhaps one of the best business strategies there is. It keeps us learning, questioning and improving rather than becoming too comfortable with what has worked in the past.
The absolute biggest lesson has been letting go
We let go of most of our belongings before we left Sydney, but I've realised that letting go of things is relatively easy.
The harder part is letting go of certainty.
Letting go of knowing what happens next. Of the picture you had in your head. Of familiar identities, routines and ways of doing things. And yes, also letting go of the idea that our two 18-year-old boys would want to travel around the world with mum and dad the entire time!
They wanted their own adventures, and watching them make their own decisions, find their own people and start shaping lives that are completely theirs has been wonderful.
I once heard the beautiful saying that when you let go, you have two hands free to receive.
We often hold on because we don't know what is around the corner. Uncertainty can be uncomfortable, so we try to plan it away, control it or stay with what we already know.
But some of the greatest richness and best experiences of this journey have happened when we've been okay with not knowing exactly what was around the corner.
There is a powerful business lesson in that too.
We can't predict everything, however much we might like to. Change is happening around us all the time, whether we choose it or not, and our ability to navigate it, respond to what is actually happening and keep moving forward with confidence is an incredible skill to develop.
Letting go doesn't mean drifting without direction. It means knowing where you want to go without needing to control every step of how you get there. And often, when we loosen our grip on what we thought should happen, we finally create space for the unexpected.
As this chapter comes to an end, I feel incredibly grateful. To my travel buddies, Arjen, Jordi and Dylan, thank you for sharing this crazy, wonderful adventure with me. To all the wonderful people who welcomed us, helped us, challenged us, shared their homes and stories with us and touched our hearts along the way, thank you.
And also to ourselves, for once again having the courage to once again follow our hearts and leave behind the safety of a very well set-up life.
Twenty-five years ago, Arjen and I left the Netherlands with backpacks to travel the world, never knowing that journey would eventually give us 23 wonderful years in Sydney.
This time, we left Sydney with backpacks again, not because we were unhappy with the life we had created, but because our desire to follow our hearts and have another adventure became stronger than the logical voice telling us we already had everything perfectly set up.
And once again, the journey hasn't taken us where we expected. Thank goodness for that.
If these past nine months have taught me anything, it's that we don't need to know exactly how everything is going to work out. Have a direction. Take the first step. Stay curious. Pay attention to the people you meet. Be willing to take the detour. Let go when it's time to let go.
And trust yourself enough to keep moving forward.
Because sometimes the road you never planned to take becomes the one you're most grateful you travelled.
Sonja 💛
Helping people and businesses move forward with confidence.